nashuaworldcup Chapter 1123 Investigation 6
Chapter 1123 Investigation 6
When Bai Yuhan and Wan Qianshan climbed over the wall into the courtyard, Bai Yuhan hugged her arms and felt a chill run down her spine, a coldness shooting straight to the top of her head. "The Wu residence is a bit creepy, so cold."
Wan Qianshan glanced at the sky; it was already midnight. He deliberately said, "Haven't you heard? This is the time when yin energy is at its peak, and that's when all the ghosts come out. Prefect Wu has committed many evils, so it's perfectly normal for his residence to be surrounded by ghosts."
Inside the mansion, only a few lights were on, and a chilling wind blew. Bai Yuhan moved closer to Wan Qianshan, muttering to herself, "I'm a good person. If you're going to look for someone, look for the person who harmed you..."
Wan Qianshan lowered his voice, "Something's not right."
Bai Yuhan immediately grabbed his arm, "Something's not right! Is there really a ghost?"
Wan Qianshan chuckled, then changed his expression and said seriously, "The residence of a prefect should not be so lax in its guard. Perhaps everyone was fast asleep in the middle of the night!"
Bai Yuhan rolled her eyes. "This kind of joke isn't funny at all."
She took out a small porcelain bottle from her bosom, poured out two pills, and handed them to Wan Qianshan. "These are anti-poison pills given to me by the Empress's aunt. They can prevent the poison of the golden toad."
Their purpose in coming today is to find evidence that Wu Yirong is raising golden toads.
They saw a door in the back courtyard that was slightly ajar, with a faint light coming from inside. The two exchanged a glance and quietly approached. There was no one inside, so Wan Qianshan pushed the door open and went in first.
There were several scrolls of books spread out on the desk, all of them ordinary books, and there were also files on the table, with a long row of bookshelves behind them.
Bai Yuhan said, "This should be Prefect Wu's study. Let's split up and search."
As she began searching for evidence of Wu Yirong's crimes, the golden toad in the iron cage made a croaking sound. Bai Yuhan patted the cage and said, "Stone, don't make a sound."
Just then, the toad's tentacles peeked out from the gap in the iron cage, and Bai Yuhan realized, "Wasn't Stone just here in this room?"
Bai Yuhan looked in the direction the golden toad's antennae were pointing and saw that a book called "Zizhi Tongjian" on the top shelf of the bookshelf was loose. She pressed it hard and heard a "click".
The bookshelf slowly moved aside, revealing a downward staircase.
The steps were bottomless, and a stench assaulted her senses. Upon smelling the stench, Bai Yuhan instinctively retreated and ended up in Wan Qianshan's arms.
His expression was natural. "A secret room?"
Bai Yuhan said in a deep voice, "This smell definitely contains a golden toad, we..."
Before she could finish speaking, footsteps and voices came from outside the door.
Shh, someone's coming.
Wan Qianshan acted quickly, putting the letter back in its original place, and the dark room was soon closed.
The two reacted quickly and hid behind the screen. There was a bed inside, and they rolled over and hid inside. The room was already lit by a faint candlelight.
Three people entered through the door. Butler Wu respectfully said, "Elder, please come in."
Two of them were dressed in plain white robes that covered them from head to knee, and a middle-aged man who looked like a butler said, "When will Wu Yirong be back? Tell him to come see us as soon as possible."
Steward Wu then said, "Lord Wu is out of town on a case and has not yet returned to the mansion. I will take you two to the private room first."
One of them said, "How long will it take for this batch of golden toads to grow up? When can they be transported to the Northwest? Let Wu Yirong hurry up and cultivate green-eyed golden toads. The last batch was useless."
The steward flattered, "Elder, rest assured, our master has been trying to cultivate a more potent toad, but this toad has a very picky appetite. Our master has been constantly on edge, searching everywhere for people, capturing homeless people, beggars..."
Another Yuezhi elder with a black mole on his face sneered, "We helped Wu Yirong secure his position as prefect, and his small reward is far from enough. Once our clan leader develops the elixir of immortality, we will not treat your Prefect Wu unfairly. As a prefect, he calls the shots in Jiangzhou. Would he be troubled by such a small matter? Use your brains and think of a solution."
"Yes, yes, Lord Wu has been trying to find a solution." Steward Wu continued, "However, a case of a toad killing someone has occurred in Yuzhou. Someone has identified the toad in Jiangzhou as the culprit. The prefect of Yuzhou came directly to Lord Wu. Since Yuzhou is not under our jurisdiction, we cannot interfere in the case here. In addition, the matter of raising toads at the Living Buddha Temple has been exposed. Empress Jiang is also investigating the case at the Living Buddha Temple. I am afraid that the identities of the two elders will be exposed, so I am sorry to trouble the elders not to go out these next few days."
The Yuezhi elder said, "The Great Zhou will soon perish. When that happens, we can have as many people as we want. Once the Great Zhou is occupied by the Northern Xiao Kingdom, the Golden Toad might prefer the Empress's heart and eyes..."
The group discussed as they entered the secret room.
The bookshelf door opened again. It was probably because the smell inside was too strong, and Butler Wu couldn't breathe inside, so he didn't close the door when he went in.
Only after the sound disappeared did Bai Yuhan dare to breathe and mutter under her breath, "How many evil things have they done? What elixir of immortality? How could the venom of the golden toad be used to make an elixir of immortality? They..."
Bai Yuhan only then realized that Wan Qianshan was holding her tightly in his arms. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, but thankfully it was dark all around and she couldn't see her face clearly.
But Wan Qianshan felt her face getting hot, and his heart started beating erratically for no reason, making him feel flustered.
Bai Yuhan spoke first, feeling embarrassed, "Luckily you reacted quickly and carried me to the bed to hide. Thank you."
"I'm a man, you're a woman. Men are physically stronger than women. I just... wanted to be faster."
Wan Qianshan turned over and the bed creaked again.
Bai Yuhan grabbed his clothes, "Be gentle."
Both of them were a little embarrassed at this moment.
Wan Qianshan jumped out of bed in one go, pretending to be calm, "You get out of bed too! Let's go see what they're up to."
Bai Yuhan carried the cage very gently, but still made quite a bit of noise.
Why does this bed keep creaking?
Seeing that the door to the secret room was not closed, the two held their breath and tiptoed inside.
The deeper they went into the secret room, the more active Stone became in the iron cage. Bai Yuhan simply opened the cage and released it. Stone jumped to the corner and then jumped down the wall.
The wall lamp emitted a faint light. Suddenly, Wan Qianshan grasped Bai Yuhan's hand and said, "Watch your step. It's safer to hold on to something."
Bai Yuhan noticed that his palms were sweaty and realized he must be scared. Actually, she was scared too.
Led by the stone, they successfully entered a stone chamber. Looking at the pottery jars on the stone wall, Bai Yuhan wanted to open them to see what was inside.
Wan Qianshan stopped him, saying, "Don't touch anything here. Don't you think this smell is familiar?"
Bai Yuhan said, "It's the stench coming from the toad. They were just saying they wanted to raise some kind of green-eyed toad and make some kind of elixir of immortality. Isn't a stone supposed to have green eyes? They want to make medicine from a stone."
She turned to look for the stone but found it was gone. "The stone."
Just then, an elder from the Yue family appeared behind them. "Who are you?"